[News] Familiar Problems Resurface In Ravens' Loss To Patriots

[BR News]

Baltimore's offense struggled with penalties, drops and misfires once again in a 30-23 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots took away tight end Dennis Pitta and the Ravens were left dumping the ball short in front of a zone-heavy New England defense.

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[Militant X 1]

Horrible game all the way around.

[ravens4life86]

Simple in December and January you got to Run the dang ball 20- 25x a game give it to Dixon.

As good as Brady is, Bellicheck knows Balance is the key. Blount 20 carries 70 yards. That 20 for 70 is very impactful, is moves the chains, controls clock, and keeps opponents on the field and if Marty&John cant understand running is Ravens identity we need new coaches

[RavensBaltimore]

The interception literally went right through Wallace's arms. Wallace also had another deep pass go through his arms and bounce off his chest. We had way too many check downs in this game, but when we did throw it down the field, plays were there to be made. We just had too many drops. I think we should throw deep to Wallace less and Perriman more. Perriman goes up and gets the ball with his hands. Wallace does not.

[kbman]

The interception literally went right through Wallace's arms. Wallace also had another deep pass go through his arms and bounce off his chest. We had way too many check downs in this game, but when we did throw it down the field, plays were there to be made. We just had too many drops. I think we should throw deep to Wallace less and Perriman more. Perriman goes up and gets the ball with his hands. Wallace does not.

Yes, I noticed that too. Wallace should have caught that ball instead of letting it flush through his arms to the defender. Very frustrating game to watch.

[TheConquerorWorm]

Simple in December and January you got to Run the dang ball 20- 25x a game give it to Dixon.

As good as Brady is, Bellicheck knows Balance is the key. Blount 20 carries 70 yards. That 20 for 70 is very impactful, is moves the chains, controls clock, and keeps opponents on the field and if Marty&John cant understand running is Ravens identity we need new coaches

You can't run the ball when you're in 2nd & 3rd & Long because of penalties. And the Ravens went down 16-0 early in the 2nd quarter. With Brady looking unstoppable at that point, you're not running the ball.

Plus, Blount got most of those carries in the 2nd half when NE was up 20 points.

You have to throw the football to score points in the NFL, period. You run the ball to kill clock and seal the game in the 4th quarter. That's what the Pats do.

Unless you have the best O-line in football with the best RB in football like the Cowboys, a running team is not going to win very many games in today's NFL. The Bills have the best rushing offense in the league - what's their record? 49ers are #4 - how good are they? So while running the ball moves the chains, controls the clock and keeps opponents off the field it DOESN'T score 20+ points. The old way is gone - get over it.

[Zeus]

Only in a national spotlight do we play this terrible. Maybe next season we can wet the bed in London too.

[BigUgly]

This offense made no adjustments all game against a defense that was rushing three, and keeping linebackers and DBs close to the line to guard against the short passing attack. No threat of a running game, and only a few vertical passes down the field. Too many penalties, and the O-Line gave up too much pressure up the middle. Their technique is poor, and they get flagged for it.

Hester? He was ridiculous. Ridiculously bad.

The Ravens were the ones who got punched in the mouth and were outcoached. This game was not as close as the final score indicated.

The defense can keep us in games, but they can't be on the field as much as they were. Ravens need to win out to seal up a playoff spot. Let's go!

[RaRaRavens]

I think I figured out what my problem with Flacco is, when watching him compared to Brady.

Flacco and Brady are both veteran QBs, yet one of them is capable of reading the defense before snap, detect weaknesses and holes in coverage, audible into the right play to take advantage of those weaknesses and make the defense pay for their play call. The other one dumps the ball off to the closest receiver, usually a RB near the line of scrimmage. Guess which one is which.

Yes, it is partly because when Brady gets to the line of scrimmage he usually has about 20+ second to work with and adjust, Flacco has 10-15 seconds at best and that's totally on coaching (another example of how we got outcoached). But when has time to audible, he changes the play into a run play that goes straight into an obvious blitz or some other bs play. Brady was at least twice able to audible into huge plays, one of which decided the game. And that is not talent, it's a pure skill obtained through hours and hours of tape study and hard work.

Why Flacco, one of the highest paid players in the league, can't put in the same effort is beyond me.

[Minionhunter]

  4 hours ago, RavensBaltimore said:

The interception literally went right through Wallace's arms. Wallace also had another deep pass go through his arms and bounce off his chest. We had way too many check downs in this game, but when we did throw it down the field, plays were there to be made. We just had too many drops. I think we should throw deep to Wallace less and Perriman more. Perriman goes up and gets the ball with his hands. Wallace does not.

Yes, I noticed that too. Wallace should have caught that ball instead of letting it flush through his arms to the defender. Very frustrating game to watch.

I'm glad others are seeing this. A lot was on the receiving corps and backs letting Joe down. Also giving up on West to force things through Dixon has been stupid. Dixon had a bad night despite a stronger second half. The first half Dixon had is not forgivable in that type of game. West must have done something to get in the doghouse.

[Minionhunter]

Dixon is a rookie and too fluky right now to be the feature back. Thinking otherwise is a big mistake. This was morearwig trying to prove his dominance over Joe. The safety was pure ignorance in knowing who your power running back is.

[Minionhunter]

Hester is just plain afraid now. If he has room he can be dangerous but his fear on close ones is compromising his judgement on easier ones and he is pressing and screwing that up when nothing is there. A little better than Jacoby at the end.

[Minionhunter]

But the haters will place all the blame on Joe for this one, like usual. Joe isn't free of blame, but he wasn't the one who lost the game. That lies on everyone, except Weddle, Kock, and Tucker. True team loss right through the coaches.

[Grapple Raven]

34 minutes ago, Minionhunter said:

Dixon is a rookie and too fluky right now to be the feature back. Thinking otherwise is a big mistake. This was morearwig trying to prove his dominance over Joe. The safety was pure ignorance in knowing who your power running back is.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one Minion.  I don't think Marty had a clue, nor could buy a vowel when it came to game planning against Belicheat.  Something just isn't right with this offense, it is off kilter badly, chemistry is off all around, especially btw Joe and Marty (which I have never been crazy about Marty in the first place, the only thing I can understand in his pressers is "yeah, yeah, yup", lol).  I swear I feel like we run down the field just to get to close enough for Tucker to kick a field goal.  What ever happened to TE in the end zone for a TD? or RB running in for a TD?  I swear it is like we aren't even interested in scoring, lol.  Drives me nuts!!!

[Minionhunter]

Also they are lying. It not being Elam's fault is as silly as it not being Cundiff's fault, meaning only that Evans should have made the catch and not put Cundiff in the position to lose it in the first place.

[J.O.14]

Dixon is a rookie and too fluky right now to be the feature back. Thinking otherwise is a big mistake. This was morearwig trying to prove his dominance over Joe. The safety was pure ignorance in knowing who your power running back is.

Missed the first half because of prior commitments, but I thought Dixon looked good in the 2nd half, running and receiving. He was hard to tackle, and that was something that we have seemed to miss the past 2 years. When he hit the hole and ran behind his pads, he looked every bit of a featured back. I'm excited to see what he can do down the road. He is still getting up to speed at this level.

[rave n us]

Why is it that our receivers run straight at the defenders? I thought the object was to avoid the defense. It's like the whole receiver corp is doing a curl route at the same time on play after play. No coming back to get separation, no hook and go, etc. I see a lot of poor play designs. They have check-down-itis.

[J.O.14]

But the haters will place all the blame on Joe for this one, like usual. Joe isn't free of blame, but he wasn't the one who lost the game. That lies on everyone, except Weddle, Kock, and Tucker. True team loss right through the coaches.

I think Weddle deserves as much blame as everyone else. That TD to Hogan really looked to be on him. Brady froze him, he bit, then watched Hogan go 80 yards. As easy as it is to blame Elam, he looked like he was expecting help over the top and Weddle looked like he was initially dropping deep into coverage. Brady did what Brady does. Fooled him.

[steelraven]

When your QB says, "they thought" they were going to play more man to man, lets me know all I need to know about him and his offensive coordinator.

[ravensohyea]

Fast, mentally strong starts define a GOOD team. We don't have that. Started with Hester's late fair catch call, then his fair catch call slash let the ball go to the one yard line, then a safety on a horrible run call, then a botched field goal. The Patriots had their domination scripted from the beginning. Starting with the 3rd series, our defense was relegated to a zone 4-man front with hardly any blitzing. Brady owned us. Flacco looked owned. We need to come out sharp with surprises, and that's what the Patriots did.

[Crusader]

Dixon is a rookie and too fluky right now to be the feature back. Thinking otherwise is a big mistake. This was morearwig trying to prove his dominance over Joe. The safety was pure ignorance in knowing who your power running back is.

Yep, I seen enough last night that he is nothing but second string.

[Fastynart]

We knew it was a stretch to expect the Ravens to beat the Patriots so it wasn't a surprise that they didn't. Now, they MUST run the table to make the playoffs. Although the offense sputtered and misfired, the defense allowed 30 points. When you give up that many, chances are you are not going to win. Once again, the Ravens get bit by a long pass. Why can't they cover anyone deep? Time and again, teams connect on those 7 point bombs. Their "game plan" with 3 minutes to go really sucked. They acted like they were up by 10 instead of down by 10. Just awful.

[KidNme]

Bad, Bad Coaching period! Onside kick was just dumb and no sense of urgency in the last 3 minutes of the half or the end of the game. It's looking more and more like many of our guys are just going to their salaried jobs to collect a check or the Miami game made them think they were much better than they are. Why they didn't try to get a play off before the 2 minute warning is beyond me too. Penalties, poor clock management, lots of dropped balls and a lack of making adjustments during the game. Joe said, "We thought they would play more man to man"... Well they weren't but you played like they were the whole game. When did you realize that they were predominately playing Zone? Just plain lack of good coaching. Makes me sick to see us play that way in the national spotlight!

[lowcountryraven]

All I want to know is what happened to Terrance West? He got our first down on opening drive and then disappeared for most of the game. Dixon personally caused 3 drives to stall. Was West hurt? Our receivers had a very bad day, Wallace, Perriman, and Dixon. A few more catches early and the game changes. Time to move on! I hope we get one more shot at them in the playoffs.

[Crusader]

Ravens needs to start looking for a Quarterback. Joe is just too set in his ways. Too bad there are none in this coming draft so were stuck with our Jay Cutler

[RL52goat]

Well, we were fooled and fell for gimmicks once again. I truly wanted to see our team compete with great focus. Give us a chance to win. We have a few games left to correct these self-inflicted losses. I just hope we stop killing our drives and get off to fast starts on offense. All the players know this, we just need to make it happen.

[coreyadams]

We showed up too late.

[The Mom Gene]

2 weeks.....  It took only 2 weeks (and after an awesome game last week too) for the natives to start calling for yet ANOTHER Offensive Coordinator's job.  WTH is wrong with people???  There is no PERFECT solution.  Some of this has to rest on the execution of the players...  WAY too many drops last night, first of all... a couple of them would have gone to the house.  Second, Dixon had a hell of a game.  His ability to pick up the yardage he did was absolutely amazing against that defense;  and he's only gonna get better with time.

[sami]

Seems to me Joe Cool was moving like a glacier in the last 5 minutes.

[OUravensfan]

Not Flacco's best but he is a gunslinger and will make good throws, he did, Wallace dropped two huge plays, Perriman missed one. 

Once again Flacco's WRs let him down